Is it Friday yet? That should tell you something about how my week is going. I didn’t even bother to post here yesterday because is was such a non-productive day. 
I had to leave early Monday, so Stacy stayed and troweled on this first base coat of the Granicrete system. Yesterday, when we arrived, the floor was still quite damp so we could not continue with the 2nd coat. We set up some fans and did some prep work on a Landing and in the Powder Room where we will also be doing this finish. That was basically all we could get done.
This morning we were able to get the 2nd layer of the base coat down and the first layer, partially done in the Powder Room.
The drill needs to be recharged, so we could not continue mixing up any more of the cement mix. We set up our fans and left for the afternoon. We are going to return late this afternoon, when we feel the floor will be dry. Then we will apply the texture layer over the 2 base coats and hopefully get the remainder of the first coat on the Powder Room and Landing floors. This will be left to dry over night and hopefully Thursday we will be able to color on the dried textured floor.
This is a fairly small condo, so our work space is limited. These are not my typical tools of trade that I play with on a daily basis, so I feel quite out of my element. The base coats and the texture coat have to be mixed in 5 gallon buckets with a squirrel mixer. Stacy is much more comfortable using these tools and with this set up than me! I don’t like the fact that I need to wear a mask, gloves, and knee pads while working. All this gear is very uncomfortable. As you can tell, I don’t quite have my heart in this whole process at the moment. I’m going to stop whining about it all though and try to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully, I will feel the end results are worth it all. Stay tuned.
I will first say that I think the concept of their counter top system is a great idea, and they have a mediocre floor product. I was a certified installer of each. I first wanted to explore in my own home and then venture out from there. The class was ok at best, I’ve been to far more professional settings with far more experienced instructors. I refinished my counter with the Granicrete counter top system. The process was really not that difficult, and the end result was ok. The main problem that I have is with the scratches and durability. I fully understand that there is no scratch proof material i.e. granite, Corian, etc. What Granicrete fails to disclose is that their Crystal Top 2 part epoxy topcoat scratches literrally 100 times easier than those substrates. I honed and buffed laboriously, to achieve a desired effect, it lasted a week! Additionally, there are “rings” from warm (NOT HOT) coffee cups and plates! To say the least I am not a happy camper! I have addressed my concerns with Mark, the owner of the company. It was clear that his field experience (if any) was lacking, he was patronizing and arrogant. I did not feel that he cared about me and seemed to be a bother to him. I was sincerely disappointed and could not believe that I was treated in this manner, especially after I have invested well over $5000 with this company. The main beef I have with Granicrete is their lack of integrity. I firmly believe that Mark knows the limitations of his product and sweeps the facts under the rug to sucker a profit from hard working and honest people. Apparently, they came out with a top-coat to address this issue, but I have talked to numerous people, who have tried that system and mentioned the price points to be ridiculous, but more importantly the application process requires you to be a journeyman spray expert, as it is next to impossible to apply. I also heard that it barely improves the scratch resistance. How can you sell, market and push a product that has a major flaw? Furthermore, when the flaw is realized by the trusting installer, Granicrete is equipped with a line of B.S. 100 miles long, that ultimately equates to an installation error. Again, I believe the concept is good but the system is flawed and should be removed from the market until corrected. I know that deep down Mark knows this. I believe that this has always been an issue for their company and soon it will be their demise. I ended up tearing out my Granicrete counter and replacing it with a solid surface one. The difference in durability was remarkable and far more professional than Granicrete. My wife was finally happy. I was told that their system would be far less expensive than granite. Well, another lie, in the end I could have purchased the most exquisite piece of marble or granite for what I invested and lost with Granicrete’s flawed system. It honestly makes me sick to my stomach, the scam these guys are pulling. They have literally scammed hundreds of thousands of dollars from hard working American’s. I know many people who have taken the Granicrete classes, and I have talked with a number of their distributors. Each and every person agrees with my take on the product 100%, even their own distributors! I haven’t used their product for quite some time and when I stumbled on this review page I felt it overwhelmingly necessary to warn anyone I could, to save their money and stay away from these scam artists!
The other positive reviews are clearly written from someone within their company, more scam tactics. At this point I feel as the only avenue for Granicrete’s survival is to go back to each and every one of their distributors and certified installers asking for their forgiveness and repay whatever damages necessary. I would personally take back any negative feedback and do what I could to promote their new found integrity! Hope this helps save you money and heartache.